Oh the weather outside is frightful!

The weather here in colorado has turned COLD! Tonight happens to be snowing and blowing wind. Fine by me as we are on a wind generator for electric!! Since it is cold and really no other things to do I have been busy with tatting. Who woulda thunk it?? right? heheh.. Still I have been having fun with color. Enjoy!

Mike.

Ok I have been a bit busy these last few days. So I decided to show you all the variations I have done on color for the snowflake pattern I have fallen in love with. I have decided upon two basic patterns. one more open and one with the clovers at each point. I included a dime and a quarter to show you all the scale of the snowflakes. :D Here is the work I have done thus far. More to come!

I have decided to do the Primary colors for snowflakes as well. I am going to experiment with Pearls and different beads. So far I have used the gold beads and the green beads in one case. I have blue beads and red ones as well. I am going to hit the bead shop tomorrow if time allows and pick up some foil lined beads to make them shine a little brighter when they are hung on the tree. I love how the gold beads play against ALL the colors. I also have some semi precious beads. Ameythist and onyx etc. I may even try those to see how they look worked into the pattern. I picked up some pearlescent beads to put on the white snowflakes so expect to start seeing some of those as well soon.

Christmas gifts and some tryout tatting.

I started tatting the other day and decided to try some around a christmas ball. I used size 20 and thought it might be a bit too clunky. After it was done I looked at it and it seemed ok. The more I look at it the better I like it though. I think I will try doing some with size 80 to see how it looks. I know it will be a bit more delicate but this one reminds me a bit of snow on the rooftop, kinda sorta. Still I am going to experiment some more with it.







I started a necklace for my aunt. I posted it earlier and I have since finished it. so I am posting the finished product. I also made some earrings to match. I know how hard it can be to match things when it comes to jewelry.











And last but not least an update on the Hat. I have completed two more rounds. I altered the pattern because I did not like how small the rings were in the second round. so I increased it by 1ds each part. so its now 3p3p3p3 cl.

Update on russian tatting shuttles.

I was asked about the size relative to something so that they could determine the size. so here is a new pic with the shuttles next to a ruler and a Tatsy shuttle so that you can determine the sizes.

More...

Sandra was ever so kind as to send me a really neato CARE package. I absent mindedly forgot to include some other MAJOR gifties!! so here, is the rest of the story! (I just knew you would catch the reference Sandra.)


In my package she included these two skeins of HDT one is called apple blossom the green to pink/red and the other is called coral reef. Both are from Tatskool. (note: Tatskool you do some lovely work with the thread dying, thank you I will be looking your direction soon for some colors)



Also here are the Russian Tatting shuttles that were in the box as well.

Christmas is coming.....

So of course we start thinking of what can we do with this obsession called tatting so that I can make christmas gifts and feed the obsession at the same time???
Well I decided to make necklaces for my aunt and two of her children. I saw this pattern somewhere but forgot where so I just made something that looked similar to what I had remembered.




My aunts favorite color is yellow so I ordered a ball of medium yellow, I SWEAR the color charts just do not do the colors justice. I fell in love with this ball immediately. It has such a beautiful sheen to it and it just makes you want to bite into the ball!

Now for a side point. I also ordered the CHRISTMAS RED ball of thread from Cebelia. Did you know that the number for this particular thread is 666? I find it mildly amusing with that whole Santa = Satan bullcrap I heard years ago but still to put the number of the beast on CHRISTMAS RED?? heheh... I just guess I have a warped sense of humor....

Let it snow let it snow let it snow.....

Since its that time again I too have been starting to make snowflakes. I generally cannot follow the patterns out there because my tatting seems to have a mind of its own. So usually play with my own patterns and stitch counts etc...
I got some hand dyed thread from Lark in Nevada, Ill find a link for her and put in in a later post. You can order HDT from her as well and she takes requests!!!
Here is some of the hdt in a snowflake I did.

Its a very simple pattern R 5p sep by 2ds cl rw, ch of 8ds between the rings at the top, 10 from the ring to the join and 15 from join to join. I pull my DS tight so it will be bigger if you tat loosely.

Here are a couple more Snowflakes I have done recently.




I started a pattern for a hat/bonnet. I got a request for it to be in pink and black.

Friends!

I have a friend in Georgia. She and I started talking recently and we share jokes and text messages. Sandra informed me that she would be attending Palmetto days in SC and asked ever so thoughtfully if I needed anything. Wait till you see what I got!! I asked for two balls of sz 20 Dark purple thread as ALL of you know purple is one hard color to find. Still I asked. She found two balls of Opera thread for me and I am happy as a clam. She also got a set of shuttles from russia, they are distinctly different from the ones available here I will scan them and get them up soon so you all can see. They are much thicker than the american ones. But still Ill bet they hold a TON of thread.
In my box she sent me some interesting Flossing doodads that she uses for Magic threads and beading etc. Ill scan those as well.
Also in my box were two tatted pieces one snowflake and one Heart book mark. Both are stunning.

Thank you Sandra!

One of the other addictions

I have another addiction that I have practiced since I fell too. Hardanger.

Hardanger Embroidery is a type of whitework that takes its name from that region. It is made with geometric designs of kloster (blocks), "ships", diamonds, and other embroidery techniques. It is worked on Hardanger or linen fabric which has a "count" of 22 to 29 threads per inch. Traditionally it is worked on white fabric with white cotton thread but in recent years other colors and threads are popular. Norwegian bunads (native costumes) from that region often feature this embroidery on the bottom of the white apron.

Today we use the hardanger type of stitchery to embellish many things. I use it mainly to do Pillows. Since I learned to do the Traditional Whitework I have expanded into working color on white, and color on color and then Vareigated color on color. Watercolors are my friend!!
Still here are some examples of the color on color.

Some more of my recent work.

HI all, I have decided to become a bit more industrious about posting to this blog now that I am actually feeling social, for the most part, once again. So here are some more of my work.
The blue one to the right is a bit like the pink one posted yesterday but still is different in a lot of ways. It has beads on the large picot toward the center and three picots on the outer picot from the trefoils. I love doing the trefoils. I like how they sit and form. I really liked this particular collar because of how the joins came together from the first pass to the second. I will post a close up of the blue here in the next line or so.
Recently I was asked to make a goth choker. I figured I would go with the black, but what do you add and how do you make a choker look GOTH? hmmm I was not sure but the end result gave the person exactly the colors she wanted. I also made her a white choker incase she was feeling a bit angelic instead. I used silver closures with chain on them. She loved both!
I am Happily working out a purple necklace for another friend. I am not far enough along to show you anything you have not seen already but I promise I will post it when I do.

Collared

Recently I completed a collar for a friends mother. You see she used to have tatted collars that she wore with everything and over the years has worn them so much she had worn them out and had to throw them out. I completed the collar for her birthday in August and she just had to call me and thank me profusely, that she had JUST the FROCK that she was going to wear it with. I hope she does wear it. It will mean more business for me for sure. The collars are turning out very nicely

Girl gone thread wild. Pink artists project.

I sent this 2" square to the project and decided to create four more which I will send tomorrow.
But Monica sent me this image back so I Will post it here. and I will post the other 4 here as well.

Made for trade

I made this collar for a very nice lady out east. Its the first time I have tatted with beads and I am so happy with how it came out.

Bracelet for a friend

I decided to make a bracelet for a friend today. Ill post a picture of it shortly But I wanted something a little feminine and a bit more brutish too so that it would hold nice and tightly. This is what I came up with. It is a very basic pattern combined with another basic pattern.